POS1574-PARE PATIENTS REPORT HIGH LEVELS OF CONCERNS ABOUT MEDICATION FOR PSORIATIC AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: UNMET NEEDS REVEALED BY A UK PILOT WEB SURVEY.
Authors: S. Chapman, A. Jordan, W. Tillett
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2022)

Background Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are often nonadherent to prescribed symptom-modifying drugs. [1] Concerns about the potential negative effects of medication have been implicated in medication nonadherence. Few evidence-based interventions to address concerns about medication and support medication-taking are available in the UK context. Objectives To inform the development of intervention to support people with RA and PsA to manage medication we conducted a survey of unmet needs relating to perceptions of arthritis and arthritis medication, medication-taking behaviour and experience of side effects. Methods We recruited people with arthritis via local and national patient groups for participation in an online survey. The survey included clinical and demographic questions, validated measures of treatment (Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire; BMQ) and illness perceptions (brief Illness Perception Questionnaire; bIPQ), medication adherence (Compliance Questionnaire Rheumatology; CQR), and patient-reported side effects. Participants were asked about consequences of taking and not taking their arthritis medication as free text to contextualize scores. Results Questionnaire responses from 98 participants (42 with PsA, 56 with RA, 89.8% female) indicated participants typically viewed arthritis negatively with ratings on the bIPQ indicating high emotional impacts, symptoms and affects on everyday life, and doubts about their ability to control their arthritis. Analysis of the BMQ indicated ambivalence about RA/PsA medications; while few people expressed doubts about their personal need for medication, concerns about RA/PsA medications were common, see Figure 1). Most, 85.7% (n=84), reported a side effect in the last month, with a mean of 10 ‘moderately severe’ or ‘very severe’ side effects (m=10.02, sd = 5.98). Just over a quarter (26.0%, n=25) were classed as low adherers using the CQR with 54.6% reporting they had missed some of their arthritis medication over the last year. Free text responses indicated that some participants had additional concerns about medication (e.g. worries about impact on life expectancy) not addressed in the questionnaire measures. Conclusion In this pilot survey, many participants reported concerns about medication, doubts about whether medication controls arthritis symptoms, severe side effects and medication nonadherence. Although our small sample is unlikely to be generalizable to all arthritis patients, these findings suggest potential targets for intervention and indicate that some patients have needs for support with medication that are not currently being addressed. References [1]Van Den Bemt BJ, Zwikker HE, Van Den Ende CH. Medication adherence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a critical appraisal of the existing literature. Expert review of clinical immunology. 2012 May 1;8(4):337-51. Acknowledgements We acknowledge the financial assistance of Bath Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, the people who volunteered their time to respond to this survey and the efforts of Elena Mut and Kishwar Khanum in assisting with data collection. Disclosure of Interests Sarah Chapman: None declared, Abbie Jordan: None declared, William Tillett Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Amgen, Celgene, Eli-Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB, Consultant of: Abbvie, Amgen, Celgene, Eli-Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB, Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Celgene, Eli-Lilly, Janssen, and UCB